I’ve been thinking a lot about Ray Bradbury’s 1952 short story A Sound of Thunder, in which a careless time traveling big game hunter causes subtle changes in the future (present) by accidentally squashing a butterfly 65 million years in the past.
This outline is so familiar because it’s been repeated so many times, in comic books and TV shows such as Dr. Who, Star Trek, the Simpsons, or in movies like Back to the Future. Arguably, most time travel stories that followed owe at least some debt to Bradbury’s memorable depiction of malleable time.
While not the original coinage (that credit goes to meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz) the story easily stands as a prime illustration of the “butterfly effect”, a concept of chaos theory in which the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in one part of the world could create a hurricane on the opposite side of the globe.
Less remembered from the story are the changes caused by this particular prehistoric butterfly’s untimely demise. Credit to Wikipedia for the following summary:
“As the [hunting] party waits to depart, they discuss the recent presidential elections in which a far-right candidate, Deutscher, has been defeated by his opponent Keith, to the relief of many concerned. […] Upon returning to 2055, Eckels and the rest of the party notice major changes; worst of all, Deutscher has won the election to the approval of the pro-fascist populace.”
Is it just me, or does America in 2024 feel like some time-traveling asshole dinosaur hunter jumped the rope and squashed a bug that had big plans?
I can’t explain it otherwise.
–OP 7/4/24
Summary Judgements by Officer Phil 